Spurs off on their annual Rodeo Road Trip

The annual Rodeo Road trip for the NBA’s San Antonio Spurs commences tonight with a game in Memphis and ends 19-days later, on February 23rd with a game against the Denver Nuggets.

Before the Spurs had a chance to begin their now famous road trip, the entire franchise received a scare when F/C Tim Duncan went down against the Washington Wizards last night at the AT&T Center.  It was such a moment that even Wizards Head Coach Randy Wittman was concerned.

”That was scary when you see that,” Washington coach Randy Wittman said. ”Those are always the ones you don’t want to see when a guy falls into you while your feet are planted on the ground. I just talked to his doctors and they said he is going to be fine.”

Tony Parker spoke to reporters after the game.

“He’s fine, he’s fine,” Parker said. “It’s nothing big. I’m sure (coach Pop) is going to be very conscious about his knee and we’ll see.”

The Spurs will face Minnesota, Detroit, Brooklyn, Chicago, Cleveland, Sacramento, LA Clippers, Golden State, Phoenix and Denver.

 

Spurs’ preseason schedule released

The Spurs will open their seven-game preseason schedule with a home game against Montepaschi Sienna of the Italian league on Oct. 6. The slate includes three other home games and a visit to the defending champion Miami Heat on Oct. 20.

The complete schedule:

Oct. 6, 7:30 p.m., Montepaschi Siena, ATT Center

Oct. 10, 7:30 p.m., Atlanta, ATT Center

Oct. 12, 7:30 p.m., Denver, ATT Center

Oct. 14, 1 p.m., Houston, Toyota Center

Oct. 20, 6:30 p.m., Miami, American Airlines Arena

Oct. 21, 5 p.m., Orlando, Amway Center

Oct. 26, 7:30 p.m., Washington, ATT Center

NOTE — All times Central

The Spurs will open the regular season on Oct. 31 with a road game at New Orleans.

Scola excited about chance with Phoenix

Luis Scola played five years for the Houston Rockets. ASSOCIATED PRESS

Luis Scola wasn’t particularly surprised when the Houston Rockets designated him as their amnesty player. He already knew they were going to go in a different direction.

What did catch him off-guard was the team that had the winning bid for his services.

While numerous teams were interested in Scola, the Phoenix Suns came from seemingly nowhere and snatched up the rugged forward, adding to their increasingly crowded frontcourt.

“I kind of knew I was going to be playing somewhere else,” Scola said Tuesday. “And when I found out it was Phoenix, I was a little surprised because there was a lot of talking with a lot of other teams that were supposedly going to bid. I didn’t really expect anything from Phoenix, and when they called me, I was a little bit surprised.”

Scola originally was drafted by the Spurs, who later traded his rights to the Rockets. He was a steady player in five seasons in Houston, providing solid scoring, good rebounding and plenty of scrappiness. The 6-foot-9 forward averaged 15.5 points and 6.4 rebounds last season, but Houston used its amnesty clause to clear salary cap space.

Wizards waive Blatche: Washington waived Andray Blatche, designating him as the team’s amnesty player.

The move enables the Wizards to remove the $23 million remaining on Blatche’s contract from their salary cap after he failed to live up to expectations and dealt with a series of off-court incidents.

Nets re-sign Humphries: Brooklyn continued its offseason barrage of signings, agreeing to a new, two-year deal with power forward Kris Humphries.

Humphries, 27, averaged 13.8 points and 11.0 rebounds for the team in New Jersey last season.